A typical synchronous data communication system includes a transmitter, a communication channel, and a receiver. In such a system, the receiver should be able to reliably decode the information transmitted by the transmitter over the channel. To do this, the receiver samples the incoming signal at appropriate instants and makes various decisions. The clock used by the transmitter to transmit the data signal is typically referred to as the “reference” clock. A clock recovery circuit, such as a phase lock loop (PLL), is typically used in the receiver to extract the timing information from the phase of the incoming data. This clock is typically referred to as the “recovered” clock. For minimum bit errors, the recovered clock should closely match the reference clock.
However, noise on the channel and imperfections in the receiver cause phase variations in the incoming data signal. This in turn causes phase variations in the recovered clock with respect to the reference clock, and increases the probability of errors occurring. This phase variation or fluctuation in the significant instances of the data signal is referred to as jitter.
Jitter is a phase variation and is typically measured either in radians at a specified frequency or in time. Jitter is short-term, non-cumulative variations of the significant instants of a digital signal from their ideal positions in time. The significant instant may be any convenient, easily identifiable point on the signal such as the rising or falling edge of a pulse or the sampling instant. Jitter amplitude is traditionally measured in unit intervals (UI), where one UI is the phase deviation of one clock period. The peak-to-peak UI deviation of the phase function with respect to time is referred to as the jitter amplitude.
Controlling jitter is important because jitter can degrade the performance of a transmission system, introducing bit errors and uncontrolled slips in the digital signals. Jitter causes bit errors by preventing the correct sampling of the digital signal by the clock recovery circuit. The effective management of jitter is important to produce a system with an acceptable bit-error-ratio.